The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks may be in the middle of an epoch-making run in Japanese baseball that could — if other teams can emulate the way they operate on and off the field— cause a shift in the game.
That, however, remains to be seen. What we know for certain, and with even greater clarity after the Hawks secured a fourth straight Japan Series title with a 4-1 win over the Yomiuri Giants in Game 4 on Wednesday, is that this era of Japanese baseball, without question, belongs to SoftBank.
"This team was created by Chairman (Sadaharu) Oh," SoftBank manager Kimiyasu Kudo said Wednesday night. "He wanted it to be a strong team. Manager Akiyama and then myself were given that team.”
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